We've started a new life in a new city together and decided we'd better keep record of the crazy good times! And maybe some of the crappy ones too, because they make for good stories.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

The Boy Turns One

Today is Keane's birthday. We have managed to keep him alive for 365 entire days, although the family as a whole has come very close (multiple times) to extinction. Here are some of the things we have learned over the past year (in no particular order):

1. We do not need nearly as much sleep as we once thought we "had" to have.
2. Lack of sleep makes us manic/depressive at the most inconvenient times.
3. It's much easier to travel with a 2 week old as opposed to a 7+ month old.
4. Keane's laughter cures all sadness.
5. Keane's screaming depletes us of all happiness.
6. A simple string is so much more interesting than ten new and possibly expensive toys.

The birthday celebration began with his ritual monthly photo shoot in his special onsie.....

Which inevitably got soiled at the birthday picnic in the park which ended with a romp in the mud. It's his birthday, he gets to do whatever he wants. Unfortunately, tomorrow he will assume he still gets that luxury.

His birthday cake, made from scratch, was a big success. Chocolate on chocolate, can't go wrong there!

PRESENTS!! And he quickly found his favorite one...

The soccer ball! He wouldn't open any other presents after he found the ball. A true Rigdon! We attempted to remove the ball from his grasp to allow him to continue opening gifts, but he shrieked and cried until he got the ball back.

Family photo after presents.

It was time to eat cake! Sheer determination to conquer the cake shows in his face.

Triumphant!

Papa trying to feed him some frosting, he preferred to smash it in his hair.

"Dad is great, give us some chocolate cake!"

And finally it was time to clean up. This was by far Keane's least favorite part of the day.

It is times like this that we feel like parenting is a worthy endeavor. This sentiment might not be felt in about 4 hours when he wakes up at 1am, or when he wakes up again at 2:53am and/or 5:34am for that matter, only to be held by a zombie like parent until 7:30 rolls around. Despite all of this, we sure do love him, maybe even more because of it. And no matter what we say at 4:26am or 3:03 am, we would never ACTUALLY sell him to the circus.